Watch Out For This
by chespin
Summary: Katara is a master manipulator, and Lin really should have seen this coming. — Lin, Katara, post book one.


disclaimer: the legend of korra isn't mine.  
notes: this leans more towards character study and the implications are kind of subtle-ish (or, they were to me after I read it a month later, so). it's a scene piece, I guess, and doesn't really amount to much. buuut yes, I really did want to write something with these two, so I hope you enjoy. (:

* * *

"Disrespectful," Lin insists.

Katara tilts her head. "Spirited," she says.

"That's a horrible pun." Katara merely smiles, her wrinkles lifting at the edges, so Lin adds, "She's _nothing_ like him."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. Aang was very…different, as a boy. Korra will grow into herself the same way he did."

Lin makes a face. To anyone else, it would look out of place on her unforgiving features, but to Katara it's just a reminder of the hissing, fiery child she'd once been. "She's sixteen already. How much growing does she have left to do?"

Laughing, Katara says, "Plenty. You're still growing, no matter how much you deny it."

She makes another face, but doesn't argue it. Lin's long admitted to herself that the would-be avatar embodies Aang's spirit as much as anyone can - she just doesn't like admitting to anyone _else_, Katara included. (There may or may not have been a bet made, back when Korra had run away, that hinged on how long it would take Lin to succumb to the avatar's natural charm.

Lin still believes that there's no _charm_, just pure, pigheaded stubbornness. Katara had still claimed the victory.)

"She's going to do great things," Katara says. "Greater, I mean. This is only the start."

An odd look finds its way onto Katara's face, a mix of regret and longing and anticipation, and Lin has to turn away. She forgets, sometimes, that Korra is Aang and Aang is Korra, and Katara meets them somewhere in the middle.

"She has a lot to live up to," Lin says finally, grudgingly.

Katara trails a finger along the rim of her long-forgotten teacup. Lin's tea is, for some reason, better than any she's ever been able to make, and is the reason why she usually finds herself in Lin's home instead of her son's the few times she comes out to the city.

"Yes," Katara says after a moment. She taps the teacup, and the liquid inside turns to ice. "But then, don't you all?"

Lin lifts her shoulders in a graceless shrug. Katara laughs again.

"So young," she says, waving off Lin's glare, "so young. You still have so much to do, so much to teach."

"I'm _not_ teaching her," Lin says immediately.

"Of course not," Katara says patiently. "Korra has already mastered earth" —she ignores Lin's half-hearted mumble of _no she hasn't—_ "but she does need someone to…guide her. She's been lacking that in life."

Seconds go by, punctured only by the steady sounds of birds chirping outside the open window. Lin leans forward, fingertips coming together. Her mouth twitches like she's either holding back a scream of rage or a shriek of hysterical laughter.

"I am not," she says slowly, comprehension dawning, "becoming a…a _role model_ for _that_ girl. No. Absolutely not."

"I didn't say role model." Katara beams at Lin's reddening face. "You said that, so the thought must have occurred to you."

"You—"

"I," Katara interrupts serenely, "was married to an avatar and raised his demonic spawn. I also dealt with your mother during _puberty_. Clearly, I am well-versed in the art of manipulation."

"But I'm not—"

"You'll learn to like it. Teaching is really quite fun, once you get the hang of it."

Lin opens and closes her mouth silently. Katara would laugh, only she knows that that would snap Lin out of whatever daze she's in and send her straight into a metalbending rampage.

"She _needs_ you," Katara says, reaching over to pat Lin on the hand. "You won't deny her, will you? She is only sixteen."

"_You—_"

Katara rises to her feet in a smooth move that belies her age. She smiles down at Lin, who seems to be struggling between wanting to strangle her and flee to the north pole. "Think about it," Katara says, stepping backwards towards the door. "Who knows, you might even enjoy yourself?"

She lets herself out, and is halfway down the street before she hears the distinct crashing and banging that accompanies one of Lin's tantrums.

Katara does laugh now.


End file.
